An open letter to Gary Bettman and the NHL

Dear Gary Bettman,

As a fan of the Boston Bruins and the NHL in general, I felt compelled to write to you expressing my extreme displeasure with you and the owners for locking out the players.  I cannot believe you let this happen.  After seeing how bad that decision made the owners look during the last NFL and NBA lockout, you would think that somebody amongst the owners would have stepped up and said "We can't let this happen".  Never mind the way the owners, and Commissioner Roger Goodell, look now after this latest fiasco with the NFL officials.  But just like clockwork, an average of one lock out every five years over the last twenty years, you Mr. Bettman (and the owners) decided bring the game of hockey to a screeching halt.  You missed a golden opportunity to continue to grow this sport.  The sport came alive in both Boston and Los Angeles the last two years, which could only mean positive things (revenue) for the league.  With this new 10-year, $2 billion TV deal, you were going to have more games seen on NBC and NBC Sports Network worldwide.  And you get $200 million of that deal whether the league is locked out or not.  So to me, there is absolutely no excuse to lock the players out.  And the fans are the ones who get screwed.  I believe most, if not all, of the diehard fans will come back to watch hockey when the lock out is over.  But what about the new fans that just got introduced to the game?  What about the fan that goes to maybe a game or two a year but isn't a diehard?  You are losing those fans by the minute.  How can they get excited over a team, a league when every five years they shut down shop?  Why would they want to support something that so frequently stops?  Those people are whom you are losing.  So now a parent can't bring their child to game with an overtime goal.  Friends can't gather for some beverages and rivalry game on a Friday night.  The people, who you want and more importantly NEED to grow the game, are getting a giant "EFF YOU!"  Let me remind you that you are not the NFL, NBA or MLB in terms of popularity.  Hell, I'd bet NASCAR and MMA are more popular than your product right now.  Fans were just starting to get really excited about the game being back.  People were talking about at the water cooler, in bars and on sports talk radio.  And you let those fans down.

The other reason this lock out is absurd, and just as important, involves the players themselves.  The first thing is they have a place to play during the lockout.  There is a mini mass exodus of NHL players heading to Europe to play.  Whether it's the KHL in Russia or any league in Switzerland, Finland or other European country, players have signed contracts and some have played in a few games.  They are in no rush to take an unfair deal and good for the players for calling the your bluff.  But what's going to happen when a player gets hurt?  As a fan of that player/team he plays on, I'm going to be friggin pissed.  That player is now out for significant time or the season and my favorite team is screwed once the lock out is over.  All because you wanted to get a bigger piece of the pie now but hurt the game in the long run instead of continuing to grow the game and start becoming more and more relevant in the sporting world.

So do the right thing.  Get back to the table before anything happens to any players and before you lose any more fans that you can't afford to.  Your credibility and popularity of your league just may depend on it.

Sincerely,

George L. Mitchell, Jr

I have absolutely had it with this Red Sox team.  The lack of respect from the top down, starting with the owners "respect" for the fan base to the most blatant sign of disrespect from the players that thought it was more important to go to Josh Beckett's charity drink-fest instead of going to Johnny Pesky's funeral, is down right disgusting.  I never thought I would say this, EVER, but I am rooting for every other team the Red Sox play this year, including the New York Yankees.  I hope these overpaid, under-achieving assholes lose every single game the rest of the year.  In fact, I wish they would have left the Lowell Spinners in the Boston clubhouse after Futures at Fenway to finish the season.  At least you would have a collection of players, managers and owners who seem to care about the game of baseball and be proud to put on that uniform day in and day out and represent their team with pride and dignity.

I wanna touch on the Pesky funeral for a minute.  To quote Dr. Phil, "WHAT WE'RE YOU THINKING?"  I cannot believe the players, manager or owners didn't step up and make this a mandatory team "event".  Johnny Pesky, arguably, the most important person to the Red Sox franchise since Ted Williams, had only four members of the 25-man roster show up for his funeral.  Four??  FOUR!!!!!  Are you shittin' me?  Mr. Pesky, over his 70+ years of service to the Red Sox, meant more to the team then probably anybody else involved with the organization.  He was the Red Sox!!  And for the players to disrespect him, his family, the organization, the fans and themselves in this matter in inexcusable.  But I'll be damned if those players weren't getting their drink (and maybe fried chicken) on at the annual Beckett Bowl that night.  Apparently, they couldn't take an hour out of their morning/afternoon to attend the funeral of a Red Sox legend.  They had to get their rest so they could "John Lackey" (double fist drinks) for the evening.

And where were the owners in all this?  Weren't they the one's who, with open arms, welcomed Johnny Pesky back into the Red Sox clubhouse after MLB and the previous owners kick him out of the dugout?  Weren't they also the one's who made sure he was there in St. Louis when the Sox finally broke the Curse of the Bambino in 2004?  And now the "Three Amigos" decide not to honor the man, so beloved by Red Sox fans everywhere, by telling the players it's optional to show up?!?!  To that I say... SCREW YOU!!  To this entire organization!  From the owners, to the managers, to the players, to the training staff.  Hell, even the peanut, hot dog and beer vendors.  Ok, maybe NOT the beer vendors - they're cool.  But you get my point.

From here on out, I am root, root, rooting for the other teams.

And somewhere, Ted Williams is shaking his head in disapproval.

My Moment with Greatness

 

It was around 5pm on August 11, 2008.  I was heading to pick up my mom and head to the Square One Mall, in Saugus, MA, to meet the legendary Johnny Pesky.  My mom had told me a few weeks prior he would be signing autographs and asked me if I would be interested in going. (Like the question actually needed an answer.)

So we drive up to Saugus, not knowing how long the lines would be and if we would even be able to get to see him.  To our surprise, when we got to the store he was signing at, there was nobody waiting in line.  There was nobody there asking him questions about what it was like to play with Ted Williams or even what it was like to serve in the Navy.  Normally, you might have felt sad for an aged ballplayer sitting, waiting for somebody, anybody, to come talk to him.  But not Johnny, he was holding court with the store personnel, talking baseball of all things.

After I purchased a bat and World Series ball for him to sign, I walked over to the table he was sitting at.  He finished up his story with the staff and addressed me with a "Hello, young fella".  I introduced myself and told him what a huge fan I was of his.  I was wearing a Red Sox jersey at the time and he asked me who's number was on the back as he was tugging on the jersey to get me to turn around.  As I turned, his eyes lit up.  I was wearing his favorite player, and friend, a #9 Ted Williams' jersey.  He then started telling me stories about Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio some of the other Red Sox greats.

I was fascinated and started hanging on every word he spoke.  He told me about what is was like watching Ted hit batting practice at Fenway Park and how he used to hit baseballs off the Green Monster to help Jim Rice become a better left fielder.  I was mesmerized by this man's recall memory; every detail in every story he described made you feel like you were there with him.  I told him my dad was from Lynn, MA and we started talking about Tony Conigliaro and how much pure talent he had.  He missed Tony C. and sat back in his chair, shaking his head, wondering what might have been.  We talked for a few minutes more as he signed my bat and ball and thanked me multiple times for coming to see him.  He also signed my mom's 2004 World Series hat (which I made her promise never to wear!) and thanked her as well.  I shook the man's hand and thanked him for all the years he has been with the Red Sox and told him what a pleasure and honor it was to meet him.  He smiled and said I'll see you at the ballpark.

I probably spent no more than five to seven minutes with this man, this legend, but he made it seem like we spent a lifetime together.

I never did run into him at the ballpark, but I never forgot the time I had my moment with greatness.

RIP Johnny Pesky.  You will be missed!!

Red Sox 2012: A Trade Deadline Rant

Was anybody else surprised at the Red Sox and what they did at this years trading deadline?  I for one am not.  This is ownership group is nothing but a bunch of PR experts who know how to put shine to shit and sell it.  And sell it they do.  After Larry Lucchino sent out the letter to the season ticket holders, you should have known they were not going to make a big splash in this year's trade deadline.  Not only is this ownerships/management gutless for not going out and trying to make a big impact and get rid of some of the issues in the clubhouse, but more importantly... THEY ARE CLUELESS!  They think this is actually a good team.  They actually think they have a chance to not only make the playoffs, but also win the title.  Hahahahahahaha!!  (breathe)  Hahahahahahaha!!  And I'm sorry, but trading Matt Albers and Scott Podsednik to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Craig Breslow doesn't exactly shake up the team.  Neither does trading Lars Anderson to Cleveland for double-A knuckleballer Steven Wright.  If "Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox" as John Henry so eloquently put it earlier this year on 98.5 The Sports Hub, then Larry should be ashamed of himself.  That is if he was a baseball guy.  Unfortunately Red Sox fans, he is not.  He is a business pitchman.  A richer, and less enthusiastic Slap Chop guy.  Hell, at this point, I'd prefer the Slap Chop guy.  At least he seems like he cares about his job.

And were was Ben Cherington during the day?  Was he out getting coffee for everyone like a good office intern?  I friggin' hope so, because if he was sitting at his desk during the day and these two deals are all he/they got done, then what the hell are they paying him for?  He needed to make some major moves and try to rebuild this team one piece at a time and he failed.  His obligation is (and should be) to the baseball operations side of the Red Sox, not to the "Three Amigo's" (see Lucchino, Larry; Henry, John and Werner, Tom).  For Ben Cherington to not trade Josh Beckett and anybody else attached to last years collapse is thoroughly and utterly unacceptable.  We as fans deserve better.  It is almost a slap in the face to watch this team day in and day out win and lose with the coming of the tide.  They are one game over .500 (52-51) and are 8.5 games out of first.  Ben Cherington should have stepped up to the plate (pun intended) and started wheeling and dealing with everybody.  But did he do that?  No... he just sat and played the role of Pinocchio perfectly while Geppetto, aka Larry Lucchino, just pulled the strings.  It's really sad to know that one of your favorite teams makes it so hard to watch and root for them.  I get sick to my stomach when they win because that means the ownership gets to smile and say "See, I told you this team isn't that bad."  Do they not hear the boo's?  Do the not listen to the fans talk about how they need to fix this team?  Apparently not.  The only things they care about are revenue and bringing in a profit.

And screwing their fans out of fun in October.